


Hollywood Night

by Baroness_Blixen



Category: The X-Files
Genre: Episode: s07e19 Hollywood A.D., F/M, Fluff, NSFW, with artwork
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-13
Updated: 2018-07-13
Packaged: 2019-06-09 19:35:47
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,240
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15274740
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Baroness_Blixen/pseuds/Baroness_Blixen
Summary: Mulder and Scully in a hotel room in L.A.





	Hollywood Night

**Author's Note:**

> Find the artwork that goes with the fic here: https://allyinthekeyofx.tumblr.com/post/171910616411/hollywood-night-11

The hotel room is bathed in silent bliss. Specks of light flitter through it like blazing fireflies; outside these four walls people are moving, never standing still, experiencing, searching. Inside here, in this self-made hideaway, the world has seemingly come to a halt. A break in time that belongs to them. Scully turns, smiles. There’s Mulder next to her, close but not touching. Her fingertips itch to feel him again, to experience her skin against his. Before she reaches him, he rolls away from her and out of the bed. His name never leaves her lips as she watches him silently, uncertain. He pads over to the window front, touches his hand to the glass as if needing to assure himself that it’s there. Or that he’s here, inside. Scully moves, sits up in bed. Her big, fluffy robe falls open like an invitation, but Mulder’s eyes are somewhere else, without her. 

“Mulder?” He doesn’t react; stands there like a sleepwalker lost in an unseen dream or nightmare.

“Mulder, what is the matter? Are you all right?” The sheets rustle, emanate the scent of their frantic union not long ago. She sits up, tilts her head and waits. Mulder traces the window pane with one finger and Scully shudders with the memory of his touch on her body.

“Talk to me,” she whispers into the room hoping for her words to reach Mulder. The contentment she felt moments ago as it thrummed through her veins, her bones dissipates in excruciating rapidity. Their shared laughs are hollow in her ears now; the sensation of his hand in hers as they strolled through L.A. streets and made new dreams on Sunset Boulevard no more than a phantom emotion, now. Scully knows this. They’ve done this thing, don’t talk, don’t feel, let’s pretend, for years. As she watches Mulder now, half naked with her fingerprints all over him, she knows they won’t go on like this. They can’t. She holds on to the memory of earlier, grips the soft sheets under her fingers tight in lieu of touching the man who has put distance between them once again. Not this time. After their first time, tentative first touches in the safety of the dark night, they’ve made love here and there – and in true Mulder and Scully fashion refused to talk about it. Things shifted without a single word spoken; touches multiplied, lasted longer. They shared kisses as easily as they shared lunch. There were no questions about what any of this meant, of whether they were exclusive. The thought as silly as the fact that they waited seven years to take the final step.

It’s only now that Scully realizes they haven’t taken it, the final step. They’re hovering in mid-air, words unspoken surrounding them like Altocumulus clouds. No more. The open robe hinders her and she closes the soft fabric over her breasts. Just as she is about to get up, join Mulder and let him know she’s here with him, he turns to her. She doesn’t know what she expected; she hasn’t thought that far ahead. Her sole concern with Mulder, not the details or any whys. But now his eyes are on her and it feels as if his whole body is touching hers, warm and heavy.

“Are you all right?” Scully repeats the question, is surprised that she finds the words at all. A second passes, but he nods. A smile forms around his lips before it develops into a full blown grin. Scully is mesmerized, the sight one to behold. Her own lips twitch into a soft smile and she’s unable to stop it. 

“For the longest time I thought I would never feel happiness again unless I found Samantha alive and well. I thought that if I didn’t take her back to my parents, nothing would ever be right again. It wasn’t so much that I missed the feeling. Missing her and the weight of my own failure was a constant state like a chronic tension you learn to live with. I almost missed it, Scully. I almost didn’t realize, because for so long I didn’t feel it.” She glances at him, bites her lip. Talking in circles, speaking in riddles. That’s her Mulder. She wants to smile, laugh. But she wants to hear whatever he has to say. Her heart beats faster, but gently; she is prepared this time. She wasn’t two years ago when he uttered a drug induced ‘I love you’. Even a couple of months ago she would have felt the need to flee. In here, a hotel room in a town where everything is fake and superficial, she is ready to hear the truth and accept it. 

“You asked me what the matter is and that’s just it, Scully. Nothing is. The movie, no, let’s not talk about that. When you took my hand tonight, when you let me listen to your laughter and kissed me on the street – in public, Scully!” He chuckles, slightly shakes his head in disbelief. “I knew it then, but couldn’t name it. I couldn’t. When we made love, when you looked into my eyes… I tasted it on your lips, Scully. Happiness. I’m happy. For the first time in… I don’t even know how long, I feel happy. And it’s all because of you.” She doesn’t have any words. Of all the things she expected this one didn’t even make the list. He is happy. She sees it now in the soft crinkles around his eyes, in the softness of his smiling lips. How could she have missed it?

“You’re happy.” The skepticism sneaks into her voice and she curses mentally, but Mulder just smirks as if he’d never expect anything else from her, even now. Slowly, as if afraid she might miss it otherwise, he draws a small heart against the window pane. He turns to her grinning like a little boy. When he walks towards her, she takes in his body, can recall how his muscles feel under her hands, how they work against her own. She shudders again, is glad that her robe is closed now as her nipples harden and push against the soft cotton. Mulder kneels on the other side of the bed and stares at her with dark eyes.

“I am happy. Very happy. No matter what happens tomorrow or next week, I want to remember this, Scully. I’m happy because of you. I love you.” She opens her mouth even though she knows words won’t come out. But he doesn’t know. He puts a finger on her lips and she melts. “I’m not saying it to hear you say it back. Not tonight. I know how you feel about me. You’ll tell me when you’re ready.” Mulder smiles at her and she thinks he’s never looked so young. She, too, wants to remember this night. A Hollywood night. So unlike them, she thinks, as he crawls over and both of them laugh. The sound burns itself into these hotel room walls, forever to be found here. No matter what happens in the future, Scully will remember this one night. She kisses him, captures his lips between hers. He’s hers, he’s happy and he’s in love. Just like she loves him; he is right, too. She’ll tell him when she’s ready, soon. She opens her arms to him, her legs and her heart. The final step taken, finally.


End file.
